We’ve all been there. You lean in for a warm, movie-style embrace, and you’re met with a stiff, triangle-shaped pat on the back that screams, "I’d rather be doing my taxes." Or, you get a squeeze so ...

One day several years ago, I spontaneously hugged a patient of mine, Gretchen. It was during a moment in which her despair and distress were so intense that it seemed cruel on a human level not to ...